Robert O. Anderson’s influence lives on

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By Joel M. Carson On Dec. 2, New Mexico and the nation lost a legend, Robert O. Anderson. Although many knew Mr. Anderson as a captain of industry and a legend in the oil and gas business, his role as an active and effective participant in American politics is less known. Mr. Anderson established roots in Southern New Mexico in 1941, when he acquired a minority interest in a small refinery in Artesia. From that date until his death, Mr. Anderson made New Mexico his home. Continue Reading

Liberal rhetoric on energy takes us nowhere

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By Mario Sanchez The New Mexico of my grandfather has long been the backdrop of the quintessential Rockwellian image of small-town America, a place in which Democrats were conservative and Republicans were, well, conservative. This was a New Mexico in which Republicans and Democrats alike were proud to be the cradle of the atom, and those many pump jacks slowly bobbing up and down around our landscape were a sign of prosperity, ensuring the future of American supremacy. So, what happened? Did we loose the Cold War? Coup? Continue Reading

Time to change election code to increase democracy

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By Carol Miller The leadership of the New Mexico Legislature has finally caught itself in its web of changes to the election code, each designed to take choices away from the voters of the state. Every year at the Legislature, ballot access advocates have watched these changes with horror, observing New Mexico’s slide into the group of states with the worst ballot access and fewest voter choices. Now that Speaker Ben Lujan finds his son caught in this web, we might get some change, but let’s go for real change that increases democracy. Last year, the 2007 Legislature passed House Bill 1156, which states among its purposes, right at the top of the bill, “eliminating provisions allowing candidates who fail to receive preprimary convention designation to become a candidate.” The section lawmakers repealed used to allow a candidate to get on the ballot by going directly to voters, getting their signatures and submitting nominating petitions to the secretary of state. If candidates asked at the preprimary convention for a ballot spot but did not receive the votes of 20 percent of delegates, they could go back to the voters, collect additional signatures and submit the additional nominating petitions to the secretary of state. Continue Reading

Ethics reform: The time is now

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By Matt Brix Given the intense public interest in ethics during 2006, and the role the issue played in the federal mid-term elections last fall, more than a few voters hoped the matter could be resolved quickly this year. The answer most people were looking for was comprehensive reform. Alas, here we are in September 2007. The ethics drumbeat only grows louder, and major reform is still needed. Some notable progress has been made. Continue Reading

Audit helps prove case for recall of ABQ councilor

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By B. James Lowe, RADM, USNR (Ret.) In the solace and comfort of my family room I watched the recording of Eye on New Mexico on Sunday morning. Alas, if I had been evaluating it as a college debate, Albuquerque City Councilor Don Harris won going away. While I still had the comfort of home, solace was not afforded by the spectacle of my debating performance. I concede that Carter Bundy’s column that ran Wednesday on this site was not only well written but generally on-point. But personal ego demands that I invite to you that his assessment was made on viewing a 25-minute window in which Mr. Harris, and the moderator, pushed the drama of a hateful cabal from Four Hills who were conspiratorially plotting to remove him. Continue Reading

In defense of the American Civil Liberties Union

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In a column published Wednesday on this site, Whitney Cheshire lauded the American Civil Liberties Union for our position on civic plaza surveillance cameras, but dismissed our free-speech lawsuit against state Sen. Rod Adair as just so much “politicking.” It comes down to this… Mr. Adair thinks his authority as a state senator trumps Mr. Beagle’s First Amendment right to take part in legislative committee hearings. He’s wrong. We would sue any state legislator, Democrat or Republican, to prove that, especially if he or she called upon state police to oust a citizen from the Roundhouse, as Senator Adair did. It’s the combination of arrogance and power that incites us, Whitney, not party stripe. You above many others should know that. Continue Reading

DOT bid has integrity, but new process is needed

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By Jerry Peters This site has devoted attention to the New Mexico Department of Transportation headquarters project, my role as the development partner and my friendship and support for Governor Richardson’s presidential campaign. It is necessary to reconcile reality with the media perception. The reality is that the headquarters project is a monumental and complicated undertaking. Several firms attended the pre-bidding briefings, but the more potential bidders learned about the requirements, the fewer attended subsequent briefings. Potential bidders took a pass because a public-private partnership has never been done in New Mexico and every layer of local and state government was clamoring to shape the project. Continue Reading

Regents’ chair explains Martin’s compensation

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By Laura M. Conniff During the past several weeks the contract between the Board of Regents as the governing body of New Mexico State University and President Michael Martin has generated questions I want to address. Specifically, I want to fully explain the process we underwent to develop the contract with President Martin after we came to the unanimous agreement we should do everything in our power to keep him at NMSU for an extended period. January was the half-way point in his five-year contract. At that time, Regent Bob Gallagher was asked to negotiate a renewed contract with the president. It was apparent that the board needed to think outside of the box in this effort. Continue Reading

Wilderness designation will stop overdevelopment

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By Oscar Vásquez Butler I want to make my feelings known about the proposal to place several thousand acres in Doña Ana County under the protection of wilderness designation. As an elected official, I encounter people each day who have long-term ties to this area and who are watching it disappear in an ever-marching parade of developments that encroach on farmland, threaten the Rio Grande and disrupt the delicate ecosystem of the desert. I see firsthand the downstream effects of irresponsible arroyo development and diversions. With my neighbors and constituents, I watch irreplaceable viewsheds disappear hill by hill, dune by dune, ravine by ravine. I cannot see – but I certainly wonder – whether we have the water resources to continue this breakneck pace of growth that is fueled by spaceports and magazine rankings. Continue Reading

Funding for children’s health insurance is critical

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By state Sen. Dede Feldman In today’s polarized political climate, there are few issues that unite Democrats, Republicans, businesses, doctors, insurance companies, hospitals and consumer advocates. But over the past 10 years, a solid consensus has emerged in New Mexico, and across the nation, that we need to ensure that our children have health insurance and the early care it brings. A key element of federal funding for such insurance has been the State Children’s Health Insurance Program – more commonly known as SCHIP. It is now at risk in Washington as the president reverts to an ideological objection to the program as “government-run” health care while the House and Senate debate the proper level of funding. For New Mexico, the stakes are high. Continue Reading

New Moore film: The system is the SiCKO

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By Steve Klinger My Webster’s Dictionary defines “sicko” (actually cross-referring to “sickie”) as “a person who is mentally or morally sick.” Where that leaves the title of Michael Moore’s new film makes for an interesting exercise in metaphor speculation. Perhaps tongue in cheek, Moore is describing himself in the eyes of his critics. Or maybe he is taking creative liberty and describing – with pity or condescension – the poor composite victim of the American health care system. My theory is that the movie’s title SiCKO, whether intended as noun or adjective, refers to the system itself. In his best film yet, evoking everything from laughter to tears, Moore makes a compelling case that, like American culture itself, the health care model of the world’s richest nation is morally bankrupt, delusional and maddeningly, tragically inhumane. Continue Reading

Health-care system is in need of reform

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By Richard Magee, Vicki Simons and Cathilia Flores In his July 21 column “We can make our health care worse,” Michael Swickard gets at least two things right: • We can make our health care worse – something we have been doing quite effectively for quite some time, resulting in more than 47 million Americans being without health insurance at a cost that is projected to reach 17.7 percent of gross domestic product by 2012. That’s up from 14.1 percent in 2001. In the other industrialized nations, everyone is covered, and the costs as a percentage of gross domestic product, on average, are less than half that of the United States. Yet the United States ranks very low on a variety of health measures and is rated 35th in the world by the World Health Organization, raising the obvious question: How can our health-care system simultaneously be so expensive and so ineffective? Among industrialized nations, only South Africa shares with us the distinction of not having universal access to medical care. Continue Reading

Swickard was wrong to thank God for atomic bomb

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By Steve Klinger Michael Swickard’s column belittling “peaceniks” and thanking God for the atomic bomb evokes in me the kind of sinking feeling that goes along with the question: How can a reasonable person possibly reach these conclusions? Swickard’s approach to the question of whether the United States was right to unleash atomic weapons on Japan reveals a lot about the biases he brings to his argument. He begins by concluding that the atomic bomb should not have been tested in New Mexico because of unforeseen health consequences, including his suspicion that the resulting fallout caused his own thyroid cancer. But when it comes to whether civilians should ever be targets in a war, Swickard essentially says the ends justify the means, i.e., a nuclear attack was the only way to defeat the Japanese military. Swickard then makes the tired and unsubstantiated argument that some 800,000 American lives would have been lost in an invasion of Japan, and observes that the losses from the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were “painful” but “minor” in comparison to the alternative. Continue Reading

Building a better Las Cruces

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By Ken Miyagishima There has been considerable controversy recently over the pace and kind of growth currently occurring in our area. In the past year alone the City of Las Cruces has annexed almost 20 square miles of surrounding land, including over 4,000 acres in the Presidios project on the East Mesa. The City of Las Cruces is going to grow. We have a good climate, friendly people, a beautiful landscape and a great university. We sit at the crossroads of two of New Mexico’s major highways and within an hour of a major airport. Continue Reading

Security must be followed by comprehensive reform

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This is a guest column submitted by the Doña Ana County commissioner, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce. Read Pearce’s column, which ran Monday, by clicking here. Al Kissling, Pearce’s other announced challenger, is out of the state and was not able to write a column. By Bill McCamley As a commissioner in the largest border county in New Mexico, I see the obvious necessity of dealing with the immigration issue. It affects every aspect of life in Southern New Mexico. Continue Reading